GEORGIA

In the modern world WiFi is a unique way to advertise and the Georgian company “Wifisher” is attempting to help different companies in promoting their products. The idea of setting up the company came up two years ago to two youngsters – Nodar Ivanidze and Davit Khosroshvili, who managed to implement it with the help of the Georgian investor.

“Doctrina” has interviewed Nodar Ivanidze about the successful initiative.

“Wifisher” is an online advertising platform that allows anyone to choose desired object for advertisement placement at the company’s website and to activate their ad in this point through a simple bank transaction.

According to Nodar Ivanidze, the platform is quite popular and effective. “The service provides us with the opportunity to interact directly with the customer. The modern man has already developed an instinct that cannot see advertisements in banners or social networks, and in these conditions, “Wifisher” creates some kind of alternative, “he notes.

“Wifisher” has an additional feature, too – cafes, restaurants, hospitals and hotels can use this system for internal communication with their consumers, for example, by means of the platform it is possible to find out how many times the user visited the site and, accordingly, loyal guests will be encouraged.

Currently, the company covers 150 objects throughout Georgia, including all airports, shopping centers, cinemas and several catering facilities. Statistically, 30% of the company’s customers use the platform to advertise their products, such as “Dunkin ‘Donuts”, “Wendy’s” and others.

“Wifisher” is the partner of almost all the largest Georgian companies, including VTB Bank, TBC Bank, tobacco and Insurance Companies, such as “Irao” and “Aldagi” and international companies – “Samsung” and “Philip Morris”.

Another advantage of the service is that the company enhances the Internet speed on all the facilities where their system operates. Special funds are allocated and the user receives much faster Internet access after viewing the advertisement.

The platform is innovative one in Georgia, but the similar programs exist abroad. Nodar Ivanidze noted that they cannot compete with their platform, so young people try to provide their service abroad. They already have partnerships in Azerbaijan and Armenia, and in the future they plan to cooperate with other countries in Europe as well as in Asia.

 

 

Author: Tamar Devdariani

Translation: Tamar Tabatadze

 The Hall of Young Scientists & Analysts – “Doctrina”

Financial platform „OptioAl ” – developed by Georgian young inventors, is one of the successful projects of the “Start-up Georgia”. The projecthas become a winner of some international contests including  “Fincluders Startup Challenge”, held in Berlin where the team was awarded the “Most promising startup from EFSE region”.

“Doctrina” has interviewed one of the founders of the startup  -Shota Giorgobiani.

„Optio Al” platform offers a fairly simple, efficient and fun solution to financial problems. First of all, it is worth mentioning that the “Optio AI” consists of two parts :  so-called chatbot, a computer program designed to talk with, for instance,your family member or friend, and a web application, where you can get more detailed and in-depth analysis of your finances.

In order to provide consumers with effective and personalized advice, Optio-AI connects with their bank account through secure channels and analyzes the history of a given consumer’s financial data. Based on it, the user’s financial profile is created, which gives you detailed information about how much money you spend on a monthly basis, the stores and cafes you spend the most, and so on. According to Shota Giorgobiani,on the basis of this, the platform gives information about the future transactions, too. “step by step, we learn more about you and we start providing information about your estimated costs for the next week, next month and etc. Simultaneously, it helps us to assist you in planning and achieving your financial goals,” the founder said.

The idea of setting up OptioAI – the first Georgian finance chatbot, came about a year and a half ago, when friends, who now are the members of the “Optio Al” team, decided to create a tool for managing personal finances based on the analyzing the financial management methodology.

“Initially, we decided to create a Georgian product according to the Western analogues, but over time, we understood that due to the market size, setting up a just Georgian copy was pointless, therefore, the current product is designed for the global market and not only for Georgian one, because the management of personal finances is a universal challenge around the world.”

Optio AI” is currently undergoing internal testing, but in the nearest future, the number of people involved in testing will be gradually increased. The information and feedback received from them will become an indicator for the team to  achieve the desired goal and improve the product.

The team is also actively working with European partners to make financial and non-financial support from them and to properly select those countries where the product development will be the most interesting and productive.

 

Author: Tamar Devdariani

Translation: Tamar Tabatadze

 The Hall of Young Scientists & Analysts – “Doctrina”

 National architecture is a co-harmony, symphony and co-sound, which exists between the human hand made and not of human made. Home is a space, which is organized specifically; each human being reasonably or irrationally attempts to adjust this space on his/her lifestyle and tradition. Folk architecture is an image of the country and its culture, which is mostly created by the unknown architect and bears signs of folk usages. Each nation has own typical traditional housing. Such various dwellings share similarities and differences in terms of functional or constructional type, décor or other signs.

People can feel safe and secure and chill from outer world only at home, therefore the paper discusses peculiarities of traditional Japanese house (Minka) and Georgian house (Oda).

System: of Japanese (Minka) house as a rule was delineated with fence and gate, size and decoration of which spoke about the status of its owner. Generally, the plan of the house was right angled, single storey, its structure was frame typed as this term has been adopted and constituted seismic sustainable structure (see Figure 1).

The ground level was lifted to 0.6 – 0.7 cm, which was dictated by the Japanese bioclimatic status quo – humidity and seismic zone. (see Figure 2).

Partition walls: Walls, diverted to street, were blank, static and immovable, whereas walls, constructed over the internal courtyard always used to be movable. Moving walls – (Amado) – have been made of thick wooden pieces, which enabled the owners to dismantle them during the warm seasons of the year. Rooms were divided from each other via inner moving walls – (Fusuma). Traditional Japanese dwellings house less furniture as per the principle of (Vabi). The best homes usually included low table and bookshelves in the guest room, also niche – (Tokonoma), which constituted esthetic center of the entire house.

System: of Georgian (Oda) house is widely spread in the western part of Georgia. With its planning and spatial-size type, these houses are distinct and diverse. Three indigenous types of (Oda house) Which reached the peak of its development in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries may be outlines below.

I – Long shaped single room dwelling, which merges with the balcony from the one side and is covered with double-inclined roof on top (see Figure 3).

 

II – Characterized with one, two, and three or in rare instances, four-room chain, with the balcony all along this room chain (see Figure 4).

 

III – Double winged location of rooms with balconies on both sides. Planning is square shaped and all these are covered with quadruple-inclined roof on top. The phases of space development may be observed here, also inside organization of the dwelling is being complicated; the key idea of this alteration is separating guest reception room from the dining room and designating it as a main room; sleeping room has also been split and small storage balcony was separated from it (see Figure5).

Such dwellings in Imereti, Guria, Samegrelo, Adjara and Abkhazia[1] have own very specific characteristic signs. These regions are characterized with high level of precipitation and humidity, which influenced frame type design of the dwellings. Houses in these regions used to be erected on wooden or stone pillars, height of which varied from 0.5 m. to 2.5 m. (see Figure 6)

In almost all types of (Oda Houses) plan is attached to the façade solution. Cutting sections of doors and windows very frequently are lined up in the following order:

Window > door > window>Door > window

Large room                      Small room 

Partition walls: Like in Japan, folding bulkheads are met in Georgia too, some (Oda Houses) have assembling bulkheads, which fuse two or three bordering rooms and create single unified space.

Balcony: In Japanese dwelling traditional (Engava) is met here. This is an open gallery, which lines up across the external perimeter of the building and is covered by the roof of the house.

Engava constitutes multi-functional space, sort of outer corridor (see Figure 7), which connects all the rooms and protects the house from the rain, snow and summer heat. It also may well be used as reception place for guests, however, in case of Samurais, Engava used to be the place, where bodyguards had to patrol as to keep the family calm and quiet.

The major function of Engava was to attain the role of transitional space among internal and external universes. Roof and moving shutters (Shijhi) make Engava part of the interior, whereas its open space links Engava to the outer world. Engava was easily accessible from the rooms; Engava bonded interior and exterior, that’s exactly called transitional space (See figure 8)

 

Balcony: In Oda house light of characteristics of traditional dwellings and so called transitional space concept, similarities with the traditional Georgian architecture may be well observed in this type of dwelling, which has been met from ancient time and is still existent even nowadays. So called “transitional space” with different variations is met in Oda houses of western Georgian regions (see Figure 9).

 

Open balconies are diversely dislocated around the house. Therefore the balcony is a transitional space between the courtyard and the house itself. Rooms are lined up across the common balcony. The distance between the columns of the balcony defines the image of the balcony, which is nicely decorated with unique wooden ornaments within “à jour”.

The type and style of the balcony points out multi functionality of the family life, in which Georgian traditions and hospitality play crucial part, guests are warmly welcome and hosted on the balcony. The veranda creates architectural image of the Georgian dwelling, which also includes transitional space. In this regard, balcony of the Oda House bears the huge artificial-esthetic and psycho-emotional importance, which is also met in Japanese transitional space (Engava).

Yards: Well-known “dwarf gardens” of Japanese homes are derived from Japanese tradition and religion. The space opens from the outset of the gate, the dwelling building stands deep inside the space and the road to the house is paved through the various types of courtyards, which provide individual images of intermediate space (see Figure 10).

 

Traditional Japanese courtyards (gardens) may be considered as a transitional space. By virtue of stone rubbles and slope terrain gardens create esthetic environment of high value (see Figure 11).

 

The Japanese term for garden is “niwa”, meaning a sacred space. Belief in the sacredness of the landscape began as the ancient fear of natural phenomena but evolved into the perception that all living things are interconnected, spiritually and metaphysically.

Yards: In western Georgia is divided in two parts, front yards covered with grass are entrance space for Oda Houses. When the guest enters the yard, he/she already finds him/herself in the dwelling of the host and gets certain impressions.

Grass yard assigns the function of transitional space, in which the host welcomes the guest. Under the shadows of walnut or oak tree, the host offers to the guest starters such as: dried fruit, nuts, fruits, alcohol and arranges so called “aperitif” which lasts unless the housewife prepares the table for dinner. The yard behind the house is a space for farm buildings and vegetable gardens (see Figure12).

 

Roofed gates plays important role in a mystery of hospitality, which protect guests in rainy weather. This underlines folk architectural solution toward guests. (see Figure 13).

View: From Japanese dwellings according to the above described design of Minka houses, they have overview on the internal courtyard with esplanade e.g. over the projection of own micro universe. With a blank surrounding wall the Japanese person estranges him/herself from the real environment and shifts to the own virtual universe.

The view of the garden when the movable exterior screens (shoji) that make up much of the outer walls are pushed aside or removed is an aesthetic experience. The open plan of residential interiors is arranged for maximum viewing of the garden from the interior, so that an occupant can contemplate the garden from a seated position at a level slightly higher than the ground – a view with a pleasant psychological and aesthetic effects (see Figure 14).

The spatial connection between house and garden depends upon shoji screens to open the house to the garden or close it off. The elevated floor of the room is continuous with bamboo flooring of the narrow veranda. A deep overhang shelters the veranda and the interior. The garden “borrows” its distant view from neighbors.

View: from Georgian dwellings it should be emphasized that despite the house orientation, people of Imereti nevertheless opens it towards the view. Generally, the view over the outer space – nature – takes precedence for Georgians. In this particular circumstance, the Oda House has overview on all possible views towards all four directions. The house is bonded to the outer space, is hospitable and yet integrated to the nature. Its courtyard is a mystic reflection of the entire universe and these two are in a symphonic harmony to each other (see figure 15).

Resemblance between Japanese and Georgian traditional houses is indeed expressed. One more similarities affecting traditional architecture in both countries, is the lifestyle of the people and natural and weather conditions. For instance, in case of both traditional dwellings, the ground level is lifted above.

Based on syncretistic research the average lifting index of ground level of Oda House is 0.8-0.9 cm, which is dictated by the bio climate met in the region, which is also interesting to compare to the construction and size of the Japanese dwellings.

In modern day, contemporary Japanese architecture attaches utmost importance to the entrance – “transitional space”. Production of modern Japanese architects demonstrates maintenance of Japanese tradition, its continuation and development. Well-known Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa pays particular attention to the “importance” of architecture, which used to give birth to the feeling of space, which itself was based on Japanese culture. Studying national culture, He tried to reveal key elements of esthetics, art and philosophy and concluded that architecture should pursue and meet general principles of Japanese culture.

In Kourokawa’s architectural theory, the main idea behind the metamorphosis – change and transformation – is linked to the transitional (intermediate) space and ambiguity. He stresses that due to transitional zones, metamorphosis became possible in the architecture. In His recent productions, Kourokawa challenges to create such an architectural space, which would be in compliance with the Japanese viewpoint. Japanese space concept has never been characterized with clear demarcation lines, the spaces of interior and exterior have not been delimitated. The clear example of this approach is typology of Japanese house, which has open front space.

While producing contemporary Georgian architecture, it should preserve that very spirit and importance, which have been integral part of traditional Georgian architecture. Namely: specific space, detail or something mystic which is embedded in the space and cannot be expressed verbally or visually.

 

References:

[[1]] Crouch, D., & Jonhson, G. (2001). Traditions in Architecture, Africa, America, Asia and Oceania. New York: Oxford University Press.

[2] Davitaia, M. (2000). Concept of kisho kurokawa Architecture and Paradigms of Georgian Architecture. Tbilsi: Georgian Technical Univesity.

[3] Garakanidze, M. (1956). Georgian Traditional Wooden Architecture.

[4] Meparishvili, N. (2016). Traditional Homes of Georgia: The Reason to be Proud. Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

[5] Turner, T. (2011). Asian Gardens, History, Beliefs and Design. New York: Routiedge.

[1] Imereti, Guria, Samegrelo, Adjara And Abkhazia – Regions in western Georgia

 

Davit Asanidze

Master of Urban and Spatial Planning

 The Hall of Young Scientists & Analysts – “Doctrina”

 

The “Postcards Club”is a new initiative in Georgia, which unites a quite innovative idea and charity. For detailed information, “Doctrina” has interviewed Madonna Selimashvili, founder of the project.

• First of all, tell us about the project authors.

-I have founded the “Postcards Club” together with my girls. About two years ago, I established a charity organization the Warm House for Young People. My organization helps socially vulnerable students with housing and scholarship. We have decided to start our own business.

–Why, how and when did the idea of making and marketing the handmade postcards came up?

– The idea of starting the “Postcards Club” came up following my visit to the US. I attended the process of working at a postcard club. It was the amazing feeling to see how a team of people put their extraordinaryideas on papers and gave a lot of people happiness.

Our cards are distinguished by their original design and creativity. Each one has its own story. Sometimes just a card is enough to make the best gift. We wanted our products to be viewed by more people and we could have extra income.

• This market has intensified recently. What does make you different from other companies?

-It’s a pleasure to work at our club. We make each postcard with love. Everything is handmade and original. The quality of performance is more sophisticated. In addition, they are made by students and it is the source of income for them.

–What is the process of making these cards and what are you offering to users?

– We have lots of different materials, paper cutters, stamps of different colors and designs, lots of colorful papers, which is mainly donations from our club friends. Each member of the club designs a card and then explains to others how to prepare a card.

-What is the need for your products?

– We have a webpage where the users contact us and orders various cards. Also, we sell them at various stores and flea markets.

– And what about your future plans – do you intend to expand or to show interest in other markets?

– In the future we plan to expand the production of our cards. We also plan to introduce national elements. We are going to find a company that will assist us in producing Georgian-language stamps. This will be interesting for tourists and guests. Maybe we will be able to open our own shop in the future, where we will sell various items.

 

Author: Natalia Jalaghonia

Translation: Tamar Tabatadze

 The Hall of Young Scientists & Analysts – “Doctrina”

The first “Wi-Fi Thermostat” printed board has been developed at the FabLab of the Technopark. “Alien Green” ltd is the author of the device. Paata Kveselava is the company Director General, while Lasha Dolidze is the Technical Director of “Alien Green”.

“Wi-Fi Thermostat” reduces the cost of natural gas by up to 16-39%, which, of course, reflects on monthly payments. The device makes it possible to control the central heating system temperature remotely using smartphones, iPads, smart watches, laptops or web browser. It consists of two components:

-Control block that is installed in a boiler;

– Room sensor, which is installed in the desired location.

The room sensor is connected to the control block, the temperature transmitter receives the room temperature and transmits the thermostat installed in the boiler, which can then be used to select and set the temperature in the house with the above listed devices.

Mostat thermostat enables central heating system boiler to work according to the pre-set schedule. The heating turns on when you need the heat and the rest of the time you save energy, for example, during the night or when you’re out of the house. The application offers detailed statistics of heating system operation in the form of graphics.

“The prototype of the first Wi-Fi Thermostat was installed and tested on December 1, 2015. The prototype successfully passed the 5-month test period. Based on the study results, we decided to discuss the device in terms of business, to produce it in Georgia and to offer to the Georgian customers.

In the winter of 2016, 10 thermostats were installed in different districts of Tbilisi in the test mode. Several month-long observations of the device demonstrated that the thermostat saved natural gas cost by up to 27%. Society positively evaluates the product. Additionally, we’ve considered comments and advices from the consumers. Consequently, we have created a better management and control ecosystem of the central heating system. It’s easy to install, it takes about 20 minutes. Unlike other smart thermostats, installation of the Mostat thermostat does not require installation of additional electric cables, making holes in the walls and other unpleasant works, ”  Paata Kveselava said.

The thermostat and room temperature sensor are connected via Wi-Fi. It is noteworthy that the thermostat is compatible with 90% of boilers produced in Georgia. The application is in both English and Georgian and at the initial stage it is adapted to the local market.

“In 2016, we presented the thermostat prototype to the contest of the ideas announced by the “Innovation and Technology Agency” and we were involved in the 12-month Business Incubator Program. Our priority is to create such products and services that will raise people’s lives and promote social and economic development of the country, ” Paata Kveselava said.

300 thermostats have already created at the FabLab of the Technopark and the users will be able to buy the innovative products starting from October.

 

Author: Nini Mshvenieridze

Translation: Tamar Tabatadze

 The Hall of Young Scientists & Analysts – “Doctrina”

Ilia State University Business School held a business idea scholarship competition “Abitour” for entrants in May, where the teams of graduate students competed with each other to demonstrate their own innovative businesses. One of these is a device that will help hearing impaired persons to communicate.

“Doctrina” has interviewed one of the authors of the idea Mariam Charkhalashvili.

“MCE box” (“Make communication easy”) is the start-up idea by young Georgian girls. Its goal is to help hearing impaired persons to reach active communication with the public. Mariam Charkhalashvili, Sopho Petriashvili and Nini Shavdia are the authors of the project.  The young girls finished school this year and decided to participate in Ilia State University Business business idea scholarship competition.

The innovative device works on the following principle: people who use gestures stand before the screen and speak in the language of gestures, and their movement is displayed on the other side of the screen in textual form and on the other hand, the device will have “Google Voice Search”, and it will be possible to display the verbal text in the language of gestures. It will make easier for hearing impaired persons to communicate with other people.

According to Mariam Charkhalashvili, the device is mainly designed for public institutions, “Our equipment, which can be installed in various offices, companies, banks or restaurants, will make it easier for hearing impaired persons to communicate with the staff of the mentioned objects,” – Mariam Charkhalashvili said.

The girls say they thought about the problems facing the hearing impaired persons earlier, too. “Abitour” has enabled them to present their idea to the society and to gain a positive response, all the more because their device does not have analog. As for the prototype, its creation is related to certain finances. The girls plan to develop the idea and to find necessary resources.

 

Author: Tamar Devdariani

Translation: Tamar Tabatadze

 The Hall of Young Scientists & Analysts – “Doctrina”

Drink Georgian Wine this Friday In Celebration of Georgian Independence

Georgia, the country, celebrates 26 years of independence since the fall of the Soviet Union this Friday on May 26. Since its independence Georgia, which is widely considered to be the birthplace of wine culture, has seen its wine industry undergo a renaissance. Georgian wine continues to get high praise for its elegant and ancient wines.

In honor of freedom and independence Georgian Wine House in conjunction with the National Wine Agency of Georgia is hosting 4 free tastings of Georgian wine. The tastings will span the entire Washington Metro area with 2 tastings in Washington, DC one in Arlington, VA and in Laurel, MD. All the details are below or on our Events Page

Drink a Toast to Freedom with Georgian Wine

So grab a friend, head to a tasting near you, enjoy some free wine and then take a bottle home of your favorite Georgian wine and drink a toast to a free and prosperous Georgia so that it can continue to share its 8,000 year old wine tradition with the world.

Georgian Independence Day Tasting #1 – Batch 13 in DC

http://blog.georgianwinehouse.com/

 The Hall of Young Scientists & Analysts – “Doctrina”

Alex Imnadze is a 27-year-old designer who works mainly in Italy. He develops car designs and has already cooperated with well-known companies.

Alex likes painting since childhood, his notebooks’ papers were filled with cars and robots during his school days, simultaneously, he began to show an interest in computer games and began studying their technical parameters at the age of 12, and at the age of 15-16, Alex was well-aware in this field.

Later, a 10th grade student was able to work on one of the projects of Massimiliano Fuksas, who is a well-known Italian architect. It is notable, that some buildings in Tbilisi, including Rike, Opera House and the House of Justice, are designed by Massimiliano Fuksas.

Alex wanted to join the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts after he finished school, but due to a busy schedule, he could not prepare properly. Later he continued his studies at the Georgian-European Higher Education Institution, where he was able to go to Rome through an exchange program. In Italy, he took part in the international competition and won 100% funding at the Turin Design University (IED Istituto Europe Design di Torino), which has been named the world’s fourth best university in terms of car design.

Alex’s diploma work was presented at many Italian design exhibitions and auto shows, including Milan’s Design Week, as well as at the Italian Motor Museum, at the exhibition, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of his faculty.

Italian design house Bertone, one of the oldest design houses around the world that has been operating since 1912, was the first company that showed interest in Alex.  He has had proposals from several companies, including “Alfa Romeo”, “Maserati”, “Ford Motorcompany”.

However, it is noteworthy that apart from the car design, Alex works on the design of men’s accessories and his collection includes a comfortable bag for architects.

Currently, a talented young man has become noticeable for foreign media. International magazines, including “GQ Magazine’’, ,,TopGear’’ and  ,,Autobuild”, often write about him.

The design industry is both the hobby and the livelihood for Alex, however, he has other hobbies, too, including photography, which helps him to study the art of better understanding and perception of the composition of light and shade. According to the young designer, for a long time, he had been found interesting foreshortening under the studio lighting condition and even though he used to mostly work in 3D applications.  All this was quite helpful for him, because everything in the virtual world is subject to the same laws as in reality.

Currently, there is a turning point of Alex’s time because he wants to start his own business, but in parallel he has serious suggestions.

He spends most of his time in Georgia. However, there was time, when he was able to arrive in the mother country just for a few months during some years.

It is a sad fact for Alex that he does not see the possibility of realizing 100% of his knowledge in his own country, but he calls on beginning designers to labor without stint. According to him, this is the best way to achieve success.

 

Author: Tamar Devdariani

Translation: Tamar Tabatadze

 The Hall of Young Scientists & Analysts – “Doctrina”

 

Thirty US Congressmen have addressed President Donald Trump with a letter to celebrate the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Georgia and the US and a strong strategic partnership between the two countries.

 Georgia Caucus Co-Chairman Gerald Connolly (D-VA) and 28 other Members of Congress joined the letter.

“Today dozens of my colleagues joined me in sending a bipartisan letter to President Trump commemorating the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Georgia,” said Congressman Ted Poe. “For the past 25 years, Georgia has been one of our most steadfast partners in an increasingly turbulent region. As co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Georgia, I have seen firsthand the strides that Georgia has made in developing democratic institutions and strengthening economic growth. Such accomplishments are made even more impressive considering that Georgia has had to maintain the safety and security of its citizens in the face of ongoing Russian aggression. Despite such challenges, Georgia remains a vital U.S. security partner. I proudly stand with Members of the House Georgia Caucus and friends of Georgia to reaffirm this valued partnership.”

In addition, the Congressmen call on the President to start negotiations on free trade agreement with Georgia and to deepen a high level dialogue on trade and investment issues for this purpose. The Congressmen also call on the US President to continue supporting Georgia’s accession to NATO. The letter emphasizes the strong strategic partnership between our countries and the need for the US to further deepen this partnership.

“I am glad to celebrate 25 years of diplomatic relations between the United States and Georgia, and urge the Administration to reaffirm this important partnership,” said Congressman Connolly. “Whether building its own democratic institutions, fostering economic growth through trade with the U.S., or contributing troops to regional security efforts, Georgia has been and continues to be a valued and strategic partner.”

 

 The Hall of Young Scientists & Analysts – “Doctrina”

 

Georgia is hosting various events celebrating the 25th anniversary of strategic partnership between Georgia and the United States of America.

Within the framework of the “Common Past, Common Future”, the US Alumni Leadership Forum was held at Ivane Javaskhishvili Tbilisi State University on April 28. The event was opened by Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili who delivered a welcoming speech. The meeting was also attended by United States Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly.

PM Kvirikashvili emphasized American academic communities’ great contribution to Georgia’s development and to the education of the future leaders of Georgia.  US Ambassador also drew attention to Georgian-US long-term successful relationship and noted that a very deep and well-connected relationship was established between the two countries within these 25 years.

The forum was also attended by Giorgi Shervashidze, Rector of Tbilisi State University. He noted that there are more than five thousand students who have received education in the US through these exchange programs. According to him, this fact once again emphasizes the efficiency of the cooperation between the two states.

“In 1987-1988, the first team of Tbilisi State University students has left for the US. All of them are very successful. Every dollar Americans have spent in this direction is a successful expenditure and hopefully, the [the US] will continue providing such large-scale assistance, “– he noted.

A discussion has also taken place within the US Alumni Leadership Forum. The event was attended by Koba Gvenetadze, President of the National Bank of Georgia, Nika Samkharadze, representative of the Georgian Parliament Administration and Eka Metreveli, President of Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies.

 

Author: Tamar Devdariani

Translation: Tamar Tabatadze

 The Hall of Young Scientists & Analysts – “Doctrina”